Nashville — The backbeat of country

The Nashville VST Sound Instrument Set for Groove Agent brings you the sound and spirit of world-famous Music City, USA, and puts it right into your productions.

Recorded by Grammy-award-winning sound engineer Chad Carlson at the legendary Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, the drum kit comes with over 8,000 samples and hundreds of grooves that will instantly enhance your productions.

The top-notch recordings with 24 different microphone channels make it universal for all genres: from true organic country that purists long for to pop-flavored country rock. The remarkable room of the studio together with the striking microphone setup and outboard equipment make the sound of the drums stand out in every way.

The 21 Styles that were exclusively recorded for this set are blending rock and country and range from chugging ballads and soulful blue-eyed R&B with country flavor mixed into energetic country rock and radio-friendly contemporary country productions.

Get the authentic sound and groove of contemporary country music as it is produced today with Nashville drums — the backbeat of country.

Top Features

Authentic drum kit dedicated to contemporary country music productions

The Yamaha drum kit used for the recordings includes 13 kit pieces including two snares that can simultaneously be played and separately be mixed in the dedicated mixer of the Nashville kit. With up to 16 velocities and five round robins per instrument the drum kit sounds amazingly fresh and natural and feels so authentic as if you were actually sitting behind the mixing desk in Nashville.

Distinctive features are the multiple ambient microphones that have been used to cherish the fantastic sound of the room. With close room, far room and roof microphones, several options can be used to vary the sound of the drums extremely from direct and dry to airy and light and everything in between. The additional trash microphone lets you blend this special character to the mix that can make the big difference in the production. The single overly compressed ribbon microphone, just above the kick and below the toms, pointed at the drummer, can be individually blended into the channels of the kick, snares, hi-hat, and all the toms.

List of drum pieces

All trademarks and brands referenced in the list of drums recorded are used for information purposes only and are property of their respective holders. Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH is not related in any kind of association or endorsement to the respective manufacturers.

The following drum set was recorded for the drum library:

Yamaha Maple Kick 18"x 24"

Yamaha Paul Leim COB Snare 14" x 5.5”

Yamaha Oak Aux Snare 10"

Yamaha Birch Toms 13”, 16”, 18”

Meinl Byzance

15” Hats

20” Crash

21” Crash

22” Crash

18” Trash Crash

24” Ride

The Styles

The Styles of Nashville include classic country rhythms, as well as ’90s and contemporary country grooves.

All 20 Styles come with several intros and endings, main parts and fills and are produced for composers and songwriters in particular.

Complete drum tracks for traditional country songs with rock influences, pop country or just cool vibes with a classic-country twist can easily be put together with just a few clicks in your DAW of choice. All Styles feature the Style Player of Groove Agent that lets you instantly change the complexity and intensity of each groove.

About the team

The Nashville drums for Groove Agents were produced by allenmorganaudio LLC (Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton) in cooperation with the sound design department of Steinberg.

With over 20 years of experience in the music industry, Allen Morgan developed the concept and put together the team that was challenged to convey the sound of contemporary country into Groove Agent. With two-times Grammy-award-winner Chad Carlson and assistant engineers, Mike Stankiewicz and Amanda Miller, a top-class engineering cast was acquired for this project.

Carlson is a producer and audio engineer based in Nashville and works with the top performers in the industry like Taylor Swift, Trisha Yearwood and Jewel. His extraordinary technical experience combined with his musical approach to music productions have earned him a reputation in the music industry way beyond the bounds of Nashville.

Miles McPherson, who has been performing with artists like Kelly Clarkson, Lee Brice and Chris Young, took the seat as the session drummer for the sampling and the Styles.